With Purse Strings and Persuasion: Congressional Strategies for Controlling Federal Prosecutorial Discretion.

This paper discusses the dynamic of prosecutorial agenda-setting, the process by which federal prosecutors decide what types of offenses to make priorities. Specifically, it examines the motivations that legislators have to influence prosecutorial agenda-setting, as well as the strategies used by legislators to achieve such influence. Because traditional methods of congressional control--such as the nomination process, oversight, and purposeful attempts to structure executive institutions--are of limited use in influencing prosecutors, Congress increasingly has come to rely on dedicated funding mechanisms to shape prosecutorial priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]